MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

4/23 Lineup & Ramirez

Aramis Ramirez was given one more day off to work with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo and Chad Tracy started at third base Friday night in the first game of the Cubs’ three-game series against the Brewers.

Ramirez went 0-for-2 on Thursday in New York, hitting into a fielder’s choice in the seventh and striking out in the ninth. He’s now batting .127.

“It’s so rare — I don’t think I’ve ever seen him struggle for so long,” Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee said of Ramirez. “He’s too good of a hitter and he’s going to come out of hit. You just have to tell yourself it’s a six-month season and we’ve played two weeks. You have four good months in a season and you have a good season. He’s going to be fine.”

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